Interludes
by Thomas Mc
Summary: The same old frictions between Vincent, Father, and Catherine explodes and each finds themselves alone trying to deal with the aftermath.
1. Prelude

**Interludes  
**_by Thomas Mc_

**

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**

**Prelude**

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Vincent sat in his chamber, his mood very somber. The blow-up had been very unpleasant. He could still sense Catherine's feelings of hurt and anger over their bond, even two hours later. Her emotions were still running strong and it pained him to have her feel this way. He couldn't decide whether he should go to her now and try to smooth things over or give her time to cool down before talking to her. He knew that some of it was his own fault. His reluctance to let things go forward in their relationship was not going over well with her and today's argument had come at the worst possible time when her frustration was already at a peak. The thing was, as much as he craved her love, he just couldn't see any clear future for them. And even if they did somehow make it work and have a physical relationship without him harming her, what if they produced offspring. What kind of future would they be forced to endure. Her comment about him not even giving her the option to choose for herself had hit home but how could he risk harming her. Try as he would, he could see no way out of his dilemma.

~ o ~

Jacob sat in his library, his mood somber. She had called him a bitter old man that had forgotten what it meant to be in love. But Jacob believed he was right. What kind of life could Vincent possibly give her? Catherine was from Above. She was a creature of wealth and privilege. She could never be happy with all the restrictions that a life below would entail. It was inevitable, she would eventually leave Vincent and Jacob would be left to pick-up the pieces. But he was still haunted by the look of hurt he had seen on her face when he had pronounced their relationship doomed. The devastated look on Vincent's face when Catherine had stormed out had been just as hard to bear. Vincent had then quietly declared "You're wrong, Father." The disappointment and disapproval on Vincent's face and in his voice had stung. He had then walked out of the library without a backward glance leaving Jacob alone and unhappy.

~ o ~

All the way home Catherine had fumed. Now she paced her living room mumbling to her self, her pain and anger still undimmed. Father's words had wormed their way into her mind and effected her, making her doubt, and she hated **that** the most. Everything that she had learned about Jacob's past, in her drive to locate him that time he disappeared, had given her a deeper understanding of what made him tick. Even though she now understood where part of it came from, Jacob's words had still hurt deeply. No matter what he thought, she was not Margaret and she would not go away like that woman had. And Vincent's intransigence only made it worse. The way he had just decided what was best for her, regardless of his reasons just rankled. Why couldn't he see what was so obvious to her. She had ended up shouting at both of them and storming out. Now she found herself entertaining doubts about hers and Vincent's future. Could they ever have anything even approaching a normal life. Would Vincent ever allow them to even try. She believed with all her heart that she would never leave Vincent. But would she ever be able to break through that barrier he had erected and have the kind of physical relationship she craved.

_**Continued**_

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'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	2. Interlude 1

**Interludes  
**_by Thomas Mc_

**

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**

**Interlude 1  
**

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Jacob was still sitting in his library chamber wrestling with his feelings when he finally dozed off from physical and emotional exhaustion.

~ o ~

Jacob woke up and realized he was sitting in a very comfortable lushly upholstered chair. As he looked around he found himself in an elegant richly appointed parlor. Everything around him spoke of understated wealth. To his right a cheery fire blazed in a beautiful fireplace and warmed his achy bones. To his left the view was dominated by an elegant spiral staircase and a very high class dining room. Directly in front of him was an obviously expensive chess set. It appeared that the white(silver) was on the run and he was the white.

The sound of voices drew his attention back to the dining room. Catherine entered from what he suspected was the kitchen behind the spiral stairs humming and carrying dishes. She was followed by a miniature version of herself carrying two fists full of silverware. The little girl couldn't be more than six years old. It was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that this was Catherine's daughter. The two proceeded to set the table for dinner.

"When is Daddy going to be home, mommy?" The little girl asked.

"He should be home any time now, Jennifer." Catherine shifted a couple of pieces of silverware. "No dear that goes on the right and that goes on the left."

Just then a handsome man came in from a back door carrying a bag of groceries. "Where do you want these Cathy?"

"Just put them in the kitchen, Joe." She instructed as she gave him a little peck on the cheek and sent him into the kitchen.

Catherine then continued instructing the little girl how to properly place the silverware on the table.

He **knew** it. He knew that she would eventually leave Vincent and return to her old life. From the look of this place, it appeared she had done very well for herself and married a well to do man. As he looked closer he realized that She was pregnant and just starting to really show. Poor Vincent must have been devastated. He wondered where Vincent was now. While looking around he noticed his old cane leaning against the wall next to the fireplace. Why was he here since she was no longer with Vincent? Then he began to feel a vague uneasiness. What had happened to Vincent?

His internal dialog was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell

"Would you get that, Joe?" Catherine called out.

Joe came out a door on the other side of the staircase and crossed the room. When he opened the door, a Pretty redheaded woman in very business like attire entered. "Happy Thanksgiving, Joe. Sorry, I was running late." She then removed a gun and a badge from under her jacket calling out. "I hope you don't mind, Cathy. Is it OK if I lock these in your cabinet?"

Catherine looked over and answered. "Sure, keys are in my purse by the door."

"Where is Sammy, Joe?" The redhead inquired, as she retrieved the keys. "I thought she was going to be here."

"She had to run out to handle a minor emergency." Joe replied. "She should be back soon. Is Dennis going to make it."

The redhead unlocked a small cabinet just inside the front closet door. "I hope so, He and Jenny are flying back from that booksellers convention. The plane is supposed to be landing about now. He was going to bring Jenny straight here for thanksgiving dinner." She placed the gun and badge in the cabinet and locked it. "I talked to Jenny on the phone this morning and she said that James wasn't going to be able to make it after all. The FBI sent him out to Chicago this morning on some high priority case." She hung her coat up in the closet and closed the door. "Oh, Joe, congratulations on winning a conviction on that Hanson case."

Joe smiled in response. "Cathy and I couldn't have done it without your excellent detective work."

At this point little Jennifer ran up. "Hi Aunt Diana." She stopped and stood up straight and saluted. "Detective trainee Jennifer reporting for duty. What's the word Detective Bennett?"

The redheaded detective, Diana Bennett the girl had called her, smiled. "Bad guys are on the run. Good guys are winning."

Jacob noticed a small decorative lamp against the opposite wall started flickering.

"Daddy's home. Daddy's home" squealed Jennifer as she ran over and flipped a switch on the lamp.

A few seconds later a four foot wide section of paneling on the far wall swung open and Vincent stepped in with a 6 year old copy of himself riding on his back. Jennifer held up her arms and Vincent swept her up effortlessly in one arm as he continued towards the stairs. He stopped there and set Jennifer down as the young duplicate of himself wriggled his way off Vincent's back.

Catherine trotted up and enthusiastically embraced Vincent. They kissed while Joe and Diana stood near the door grinning at each other.

The sound of running feet drew Jacob's attention to the top of the spiral stairs as a three year old copy of Vincent came bounding down the stairs. He was followed closely by an other girl that appeared about twelve years old and was calling out in exasperation. "Charles Chandler Wells, you know better than to run down the stairs like that." The older girl was wearing a pink shirt with the name Naomi printed across the front. She stopped next to Catherine and Vincent as the six year old boy ran over to Jacob. "Grandfather, we had so much fun at the waterfall lake today." He then looked down at the chess table. "Who's winning, you or uncle Joe?"

Jacob looked at Catherine and Vincent enclosed in each other's embrace and for the moment oblivious to everything around them. He looked at the children that surrounded them laughing happily at their parent's mushy behavior and at the young copy of Vincent standing before him and gazing back with Catherine's green eyes. He glanced at the female police detective and the man he now realized was Catherine's boss at the DA office, who both appeared totally unfazed by the unusual appearance of Vincent and his two sons.

**She had done it!** Somehow Catherine had given Vincent the kind of happy family life that he had always thought impossible. As he continued to take in the scene around him it slowly began to fade away.

**_Continued_**

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'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	3. Interlude 2

**Interludes  
**_by Thomas Mc_

**

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**

**Interlude 2  
**

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Catherine sat on the sofa in front of her fireplace wrestling with her feelings of hurt, anger and frustration. Eventually she dozed off from physical and emotional exhaustion.

~ o ~

The first thing she became aware of was that she was standing among a large group of people on some kind of rooftop garden overlooking Central Park. This was immediately followed by the realization that there was a wedding in progress directly in front of her.

The bride had long dark brown hair and, though she had her back to Catherine, there was something strangely familiar about her that kept nagging at the back of her mind. The groom had blond hair nearly as long as the brides. She caught a rear quarter view of the best man's face and that too looked oddly familiar.

As she was gazing at the backs of the wedding party in front of her, she felt a strong fuzzy hand grasp hers and looked down to see Vincent's furry, clawed hand holding hers. Just as she caught the glint of an intricately carved silver band on her wedding finger, Vincent's other hand came up to caress the back of her hand and she noticed a matching silver ring on his wedding finger. He then raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.

Catherine found herself gazing into that incredibly handsome leonine face as he gazed back at her. In Vincent's eyes she saw love, joy and pride in equal proportions. But the most amazing thing was that she could actually feel those emotions coming from him over the bond they shared. It had become a two way link? She could feel herself sinking into those beautiful sapphire blue eyes as Vincent's emotions washed over her. The spell was broken when he again kissed her hand then looked back toward the wedding party.

Then she glanced at the people beyond Vincent and was surprised to see, standing just the other side of Vincent, Elliot Burch with his arm around a beautiful blond woman. Elliot glanced over at Catherine and smiled. Then the pretty blond smiled at her and Catherine recognized her as a model from some of her fashion magazines.

"I Charles Chandler-Wells ..."

Catherine's head nearly snapped back around at those words to see the bride and groom were now facing each other and she could clearly see their faces. The groom was a younger version of Vincent right down to the furry clawed hands and the leonine features. The bride was very pretty and Catherine now realized it was her mother's wedding dress that had seemed so familiar about her earlier. Catherine recognized the dress because one of her most treasured possessions after her mother died was a small book of her parent's wedding pictures that she had found when she was about twelve years old. She had kept it hidden away with her other secret treasures. The best man, she now saw clearly, was a younger version of Elliot Burch. These realizations had taken only a moment to register in her mind.

"... take thee Elizabeth Maxwell to be ..."

She heard a sniffling to the right and looked over to see Joe Maxwell holding the hand of a lovely blond woman that was as tall as him. She was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. In Joe's eyes, she saw the reflection of the same joy, love and pride she had just seen in Vincent.

Elliot Burch and Joe Maxwell both knew about Vincent?

Then the full impact of what she was seeing hit her. She was married to Vincent ... and they had a son ... who was about to marry Joe's daughter! And Elliot's son was the best man? She felt her knees get weak as she was overcome by all these revelations hitting her at once.

Then she felt the gentle pressure of a hand on her right shoulder

"You OK mom?" She looked over her shoulder to see her own green eyes looking out of another young version of Vincent. Two sons! Then she spotted Jacob standing just beyond her other son, looking so old and grinning so big that she could barely recognize him. He had his arm linked with a nice looking older woman that had to be at least four inches shorter than Catherine herself. Next she became aware of Jenny and Nancy standing nearby and Jenny was in the arms of a tall distinguished Gentleman that was currently gazing with love at the woman encircled by his arm.

Catherine again gazed up at Vincent, her heart overflowing with both love and amazement. **They had done it!** Somehow, they had managed to make their happy life work out far better than she could ever have dreamed of.

As Catherine gazed around at all of the familiar and occasionally unfamiliar faces, the scene around her slowly began to fade away.

**_Continued_**

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'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	4. Interlude 3

**Interludes  
**_by Thomas Mc_

**

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**

**Interlude 3**

_(due to some discrepancies found by a reader some minor corrections have been made in this chapter)_

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Vincent sat at his desk wrestling with his feelings when he finally dozed off from the day's physical and emotional exhaustion

~ o ~

Vincent was suddenly wide awake. He was sitting on a bench in the park in broad daylight. He realized that he was surrounded by a crowd of people, all strangers, and they were not afraid. Vincent could sense no fear or hostility ... only _surprise_, _amusement _and ... _respect_?

"Alright, Alright. What's going on here." A police officer forced his way through the crowd. When he saw Vincent his face registered surprise. "Oh, I see." He turned and faced the crowd. "Move along now give the man some peace."

The policeman continued to urge them to move along as the crowd reluctantly disbursed. While Vincent stared at him in surprise he sat down on the bench next to him. "here to visit the family monument?"

"Pardon?" was all Vincent could get out.

"The family monument." He pointed to a monolith like structure that Vincent had not noticed before. It was about four feet high, three feet wide and made of some type of transparent crystalline material. At the top was the word "**Forever**" embedded in the transparent substance in flowing sapphire blue script. Directly below that a long stemmed red rose was embedded in it positioned so that it underlined the word Forever. Below that was Catherine and Vincent's names side by side. Under Catherine's name were the words, "**Loving Wife – Devoted Mother**". Under Vincent's name were the words, "**Loving Husband – Devoted Father**". Next down was the line, "**Once Upon A Time In The City Of New York**." Below that was the line "**Dedicated to them by their devoted children**." And the final line had a list of six names. "**Jacob – Jennifer – Naomi – Charles – Nancy – Brigit**" inscribed into the monument.

The implications of what he was seeing were staggering. He had married Catherine and they had six children. And, apparently, the world above knew about them?

His eyes went back to the line that had seemed most unusual to him as he read it aloud "Once upon a time in the city of New York?"

"Yea, Greatest love story of all time, and it's all true." Vincent looked over at the officer in surprise. "After all it was written by Brigit O'Donnell, who knew them both personally. They even named their youngest daughter after her. It's one of my wife's favorite books." He shook his head. "It's a shame that the book remained hidden, unknown, for so long after Brigit's death. Of course, once the world became aware of the existence of the Wells-Chandlers there was no longer any reason to keep it hidden away so their grandchildren got together and had it published. It helped explain the origin of the Wells-Chandlers to a world that was hungry to know more about them."

Vincent had noticed that passers-by were usually surprised to see him sitting there and tended to stare in curiosity but that was all the reaction he got. He was curious now and wanted to know more. "Caused quite a stir of course?"

"Are you kidding?" The policeman became very animated. "After such a spectacularly heroic introduction to the world back in 2067. The whole world was stunned when it happened." He was warming up to the subject now. "Alexander pops up in the middle of the United Nations General Assembly during the live televised world leaders conference on the resurgence of international terrorism. He takes out that terrorist and stopped him from setting off the nuclear bomb at the top of the Empire State Building." There was raw admiration in the policeman's eyes. "The way he stubbornly hung on to that dead-man trigger switch, despite being shot so many times by that terrorist's accomplice, he saved the whole city of New York as well as all those world leaders. And to have it all happen on a live worldwide TV broadcast. The President himself came to Alexander's hospital room, and later presented him with the highest medal that the Congress could award, and officially granted all of you Wells-Chandlers full protection of official US citizenship. Within a year the other Wells-Chandlers came forward. It's been two decades since then and the world has really changed a lot, though you still don't get to see a Wells-Chandler in person very often. You guys **are** still pretty rare. I actually saw Alexander last year when the President was in town."

Vincent listened, in total amazement, as the man's story unfolded. He was also amazed at how much time had apparently passed. He was tempted to ask the officer how many of his decedents there were now and how many of them carried his unique feature. Based on what he had said there were more than just a few.

The officer looked a little closer. "You know you are a dead ringer for Vincent."

"You know what Vincent looks like?" he asked, wondering how he knew. There were no pictures of him, except a couple in Elizabeth's painted tunnels, that he was aware of and by the late 2060's he and Catherine were unlikely to still be alive to have been photographed.

"Of course. I've seen the painting of Catherine and Vincent that's hanging inside the entrance to the Wells-Chandler foundation. My wife works there and I see that painting every time I visit her there for lunch." Then he shook his head. "She once told me that some of the old timers claim that the artist painted it after his death." He chuckled. "Less than a century and there are already some pretty fantastic legends popping up about Catherine and Vincent."

The officer seemed to draw himself back from wherever his mind had wandered. "Are you here for the wedding?"

"What wedding?" Vincent asked.

"My niece is marrying Phillip Chandler-Wells next week. I hope she has lots of boys, world needs more Wells-Chandlers like you." He looked at his watch and jumped up. "Gotta go. Hope to see you at the wedding." With a wave of his hand he continued down the walking path, whistling some tune that Vincent didn't recognize.

As he sat there his gaze was drawn back to the monolith while he contemplated everything that the policeman had said. It seemed that at least some of his and Catherine's offspring carried his unique features and still were able to live openly in this place and time. Based on what the policeman had said, those like him were even admired. He had actually been proud that his niece was about to marry one! As he thought about this, the scene around him slowly began to fade away.

**_Continued_**

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'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


	5. Postlude

**Interludes  
**_by Thomas Mc_

**

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**

**Postlude**

* * *

Catherine woke with a renewed sense of hope, and a sharp crick in her neck, the dream already fading from memory. All she could remember of her dream was a hazy image of her hand in Vincent's and both of them sporting matching wedding bands. It seemed like an impossible dream but she had to admit that she liked the idea. That one remaining image was something she could hold onto, a goal, a wish, a hope. She checked her clock then jumped up and hurried through her morning routine. She walked out her front door an hour early and headed down into the tunnels. She had just enough time and she needed to see Vincent.

~ o ~

Jacob woke in his study, his back a little achy from sleeping hunched over his desk, his dream already fading from memory. All he could remember was the image of a young boy with Vincent's features and Catherine's hair and eyes smiling at him from the other side of a chess board. And behind him Catherine and Vincent in a loving embrace. He knew he had dreamed of something incredible but all he could remember was that one hazy image. As he thought about it, he decided that maybe he was letting his own tragic experiences color his thoughts and Vincent was old enough to make his own decisions. Anyway he owed Vincent ... and Catherine ... and apology. Vincent would be up by now, he could start there.

~ o ~

Vincent woke to a feeling of contented well being. He knew that he had experienced an incredible dream but all he could remember was an image of a crystalline monument in the middle of Central Park with the word Forever at the top and an incredible story in the words that filled the rest of it. That one image he retained gave him a glimpse of an impossible dream that he still was afraid to wish for. He jumped out of bed and quickly dressed for the day. The ultimate goal that the dream image hinted at might be impossible but, perhaps, it was time to let his and Catherine's relationship move forward just a little and see where it might lead.

~ o ~

Vincent sensed Catherine was near and heading his way. The _hurt _and _anger _were gone, replaced with a kind of _contented hopefulness_. It looked like he was about to have his new resolve to advance their relationship tested a little earlier than expected. He suddenly felt himself becoming nervous.

Catherine paused at Vincent's chamber door. "Vincent, may I come in?"

"Please come in." Vincent replied.

"Are you Ok?" Catherine asked. "I came to apologize for some of the things I said last night."

Vincent responded, "There is no need. I **have** been stubborn and kept you at arms length for too long." He held out his arms. "Can you forgive me?"

With a sense of relief, Catherine answered him by moving into his arms and squeezing him tight. As she eased her hug and looked up at him. Vincent surprised her by kissing her for the first time. With a shiver of delight she returned the kiss. A bolt of lightning passed through both of them, taking their breath away.

They both heard Fathers voice at the door and looked over to see him looking back, a bit sheepishly.

"Vincent, Catherine, I wanted to apologize to you both. You were right Catherine, you are not Margaret and I should at least give you the benefit of the doubt. Vincent you were right, too. You are old enough to make your own decisions and I should have faith that you will make the right ones.

All the tension of the previous night was gone, as Catherine and Vincent invited Jacob into their embrace.

**_The End_**

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'**Beauty and the Beast'** and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.


End file.
